[Levin]

Shabana Begum
PUBLISHED 2 HOURS AGO


SINGAPORE - A house or building made of mushrooms may sound far-fetched and fragile, but do not underestimate the strength of the mycelium, a hardy component of the fungi.

Researchers in Singapore and Switzerland are now studying the use of mycelium as a sustainable building construction material.

Mycelium is the vast underground root network of fungi.

The mushroom one sees is merely the fruiting body, making up just a small part of the fungus. This means the bulk of a fungus grows underground.

In a 2019 documentary titled Fantastic Fungi, it was reported that there are 480km of mycelium under every footstep one takes in the forest.

When cultured in the lab, a mass of mycelium looks like white fluff.

Although delicate-looking, this "fluff" is being turned into "mushroom bricks" for construction as part of a research project.

The branching threads are made of substances such as chitin and cellulose that are known to be strong, said Assistant Professor Hortense Le Ferrand, a co-investigator in the project under the Future Cities Lab (FCL) Global programme.

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Buildings and construction generate about 40 per cent of planet-warming carbon dioxide

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A quarter of the emissions came from manufacturing building materials and products such as glass, cement and steel.

Between 2016 and 2019, construction and demolition generated the largest amount of waste in Singapore - between 1.4 million and 1.6 million tonnes a year - although 99 per cent of the waste is recycled here. This is where mycelium comes in handy.

Mycelium cannot turn into an eco-friendly building block on its own. It needs plant-based waste or food waste such as sawdust, bamboo or coffee grounds as a medium.

When a fungus is grown on a bed of sawdust or corn stalks, the mycelium branches out and snakes through the fragments of waste, binding to them. It takes three to four weeks for the mycelium network to grow and bond with every fragment of waste. The mass is then cast into a mould to be shaped into a mushroom brick. Once the material has lived through its lifespan, it can be composted instead of filling up landfills.


Lots more info at: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/e...nstruction